The laying of floor pavings and wall claddings composed of wall tiles, floor tiles or slabs of medium and large dimensions with reduced or recessed thickness entails considerable difficulties in the steps of leveling the laying and of arranging the tiles at equal distances to provide the gaps.
In order to ensure adequate relative arrangement between the tiles and give uniform leveling to the floor, tools provided specifically to achieve this goal are normally used.
One type of tools of this type comprises a leveling element and a knob.
The leveling element is constituted by a base which is inserted below the corners of, for example, four tiles being laid, from which four spacing raised portions extend for abutment of the edges of the corresponding tiles.
A threaded stem protrudes centrally from the base in a direction that is perpendicular to the plane of the base.
The knob is screwed onto the threaded stem and is substantially cylindrical with a central female thread portion adapted for the insertion of the stem. The female thread portion is axially symmetrical and its axis coincides with the axis of extension of the knob.
The knob has a flat part which is adapted to press on the tiles in order to lock and align the edges and the corners of the tiles arranged on the base of the leveling element.
After laying, the knob, coupled to the stem, is removed by applying pressure in a direction that is perpendicular to the direction of the stem.
Preweakened points provided on the base proximate to the spacing raised portions facilitate the separation of the stem from the base.
The base and the spacing raised portions are embedded and concealed by the paste with which the gaps are subsequently provided.
However, these known methods have aspects that can be improved.
The knob has a substantially cylindrical body and does not allow visual contact with the corners of the tiles that must be aligned.
Furthermore, the substantially cylindrical shape can cause difficult removal of the knob after leveling.